


I see the same skies through brown eyes that you see through blue

by stillusesapencil



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Theatre, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, big bro steve, blink and you miss it nancy/jonathan, joyce/hopper is pretty minor too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 11:57:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18052079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillusesapencil/pseuds/stillusesapencil
Summary: El is just starting her freshman year of high school when she gets cast in the upcoming musical. There she meets a wonderful cast of characters who seem to like her, too. Her life becomes rehearsals and costumes and songs--and maybe friends, too.





	I see the same skies through brown eyes that you see through blue

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a major writing block for like six months, so last night I sat down to write just intending to poke at some wips, maybe poke my original things, and then I awoke from my stupor SIX HOURS LATER with 5K of this, three empty tea cups, and a half-eaten bag of skittles. As it was after midnight, I decided the best course of action was to go to bed. I edited it this morning, added a bit here and there, and here we are. It's still a bit messy, but I'm happy to have written something. Please enjoy.
> 
> Title taken from "Worlds apart," from the musical Big River.

_I love dressing rooms_ , El reflected, standing in the middle of the dim room. All along the walls were mirrors, lined with large bulbs, and below them, counters. Soon the lights would be lit, nearly blinding, flooding the room with fluorescent brilliance, and the counters would be covered with makeup and brushes and roses, and the room would be full of people, buzzing with excitement of an opening night. She’d never been in a dressing room before, and she couldn’t wait to see it come alive.

But not yet. 

Right now, the room was grey and dim, silent, and a little dusty. Rehearsals had only been going on for a week, after all. It wasn’t time for the dressing room yet. Joyce was only in here to open the costume closet for Karen, the costume designer. 

Joyce emerged from the closet, arms full of dresses. “Here, El, since you’re here, why don’t you look at these and see if you like any of them?”

She spread the dresses on the counter, and El stood in front of them to look at the bright and soft colors. She pondered her character, Mary Jane Wilkes. Perhaps the yellow gingham, or the light blue plaid. She pointed at those, and looked up to Joyce, who nodded. 

“Good choices. We’ll have to check with Karen, of course, but I think one of those might work.” 

They headed from the dressing room to the dark and silent backstage. El trailed Joyce as they crossed the darkened stage. Just as they reached center, blinding light engulfed them with a pop of electricity. 

Joyce jumped and let out a small scream, and El flailed as though searching for attackers. 

“Sorry, Mrs. Byers,” Dustin called, coming out of the booth. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Oh, Dustin. Of course. Thank you for turning on the lights.”

“Yes ma’am. Hey, El.”

She smiled and raised a hand in greeting. 

“Thank you, El, for your help in the dressing rooms,” Joyce said, and headed across the stage.

El swung off the front of the stage and threw herself into the front row seat beside Will, who was studying his script. He was wearing the newsboy cap he hadn’t taken off since getting the role of Tom Sawyer. 

“How’s it going?” she asked.

He looked up blankly for a minute. “Tom talks a lot.”

She giggled, thankful for her lack of lines. Mary was a small part. She had one solo and only a few lines. Not terribly hard to learn. 

They studied their scripts together as the rest of the cast filed in. Lucas came, singing bits of one of the songs under his breath. He joined them in their script studying, but laying on his stomach on the stage. Max skateboarded down the aisle, stopping just shy of the stage. She propped her skateboard on the wall, and opened her stage manager’s binder on the edge of the stage.

Lucas grinned brightly at her. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“Fine.”

Lucas shot a glance at El and Will, who mutually shrugged. Lucas’ long-suffering distant crush on Max Mayfield was well known to them. They had spent many lunches listening to him ramble about her hair or her eyes. 

“You, uh, been up to anything fun recently?”

She shrugged. “Played some Skyrim this weekend. Was at the skate park too. Other than that, not much.” She turned another page in her script. 

“You’re really good on the skateboard.”

“I’m a zoomer.”

“Zoomer?” 

“Y’know, someone who goes fast. Zoomer.” She said it so definitively that it stopped both further questioning and the conversation entirely.

Lucas sighed, and went back to his lines.

More cast members came, filling seats, studying lines, chattering about their Mondays or homework or school gossip. Nancy Wheeler swept in, her hair swept up in a bun. She was their choreographer. They weren’t doing a dance rehearsal that day, but she came to almost every rehearsal to observe. Jonathan followed her in. They’d been dating for a little bit, and when he sat beside her, she graced him with a stunning smile.

Steve Harrington came from the technical booth, where he had been hanging out with Dustin. He joined them in the rows, sitting just behind them. 

Joyce emerged from backstage. “Is everyone here? Max, have you taken attendance?”

“Yes ma’am,” Max said. “Almost everyone—Mike’s not—”

“I’m here!” Mike shouted, throwing himself through the doors of the auditorium. “I’m sorry, I was running late.”

From her row, Nancy huffed and rolled her eyes. 

Will leaned over to El. “I bet there was a dog.”

“A dog?”

“Mike loves dogs.” Will was Mike’s best friend, he’d know.

“Well, now that we’re all here, let’s get started, please.” 

The troupe shuffled backstage, pencils in hand. 

Lucas leapt to his feet. “I’m ready!” He punched the air, and shot a look at Max. She was studying her book. He turned his script in his hands a few times. “Max?”

She looked up expectantly. 

“I forgot my pencil. May I have one?”

“Sure.” She pulled a pencil bag out of her backpack. “Here.”

Lucas took the pencil, gave her a nod, a smile, and headed backstage.

“You’re hopeless,” Mike whispered to him behind the curtain. 

“Shut up,” Lucas grunted, elbowing Mike in the ribs. “You can’t say anything.”

Mike laughed awkwardly and shuffled his feet. “Yeah, whatever.”

The rehearsal went smoothly—blocking of half of the first act. Joyce had chosen _Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ for Hawkins High School’s fall drama. It was a long show, and perhaps a bit more complicated than other shows she could have chosen, but nothing they couldn’t manage with some time and effort. Almost everyone was double-cast in some way. It was a big effort, but they could do it. Joyce had a way of pulling off the most impossible-seeming tasks. She was stubborn, patient, kind, and unerringly hopeful that her cast and crew would pull through. 

El had just started attending Hawkins High. She’d been homeschooled up to now—Hopper, her adoptive father and police chief—had been her primary teacher. But now that she was in high school, he decided to put her in public school. It was a whole new world for her, and she loved every minute of it. She was shy, quiet, carrying a book in her book bag to read at lunch. She’d known Will for a long time, and she was glad to have him there. He was already her best friend, and attending the same school just made it better. When he encouraged her to audition for his mother’s show, she had been hesitant, but he kept encouraging, and now here she was.

Dustin was slowly becoming her friend, too. He was technical director, in charge of lights and sound. It was a lot, but he was working on recruiting people to help him run everything during shows. He and El shared a love of reading. Last week she’d lent him her copy of _Dune_ , which was a true sci-fi classic he shouldn’t miss. He’d promised it back to her in good condition.

Lucas seemed to like her too, although slower to warm up. But, they had only known each other for a short time. She hadn’t been at the school long, and rehearsals had just started, and though they were five days of the week, it still hadn’t been enough time to really get to know each other. 

And then there was Mike. Mike, playing Huckleberry Finn; Mike, who hadn’t been able to speak when he first met her; Mike, who had the voice of an angel; Mike, who smiled at her softly and said, “Welcome to Hawkins High, El,” like it was a gift. She liked him. She wanted to be friends with him. That’s what she knew. Beyond that…well, time would tell.

See, here was the thing. The script called for her to kiss him. Joyce had said nothing on that point yet. El had never been kissed before. This would be her first kiss. The least she could hope for was to be friends with the boy who kissed her. It helped (or perhaps it didn’t help) that the boy was _really really cute._

Just now, he flopped down beside her on the floor backstage. He was a little sweaty from being under the lights, and his shaggy curly hair flopped across his forehead. “So,” he whispered conspiratorially, “Do you like dogs?”

“Dogs?”

“Yeah, I saw the most amazing dog on my way here. I was biking, and I stopped to pet it. Super soft.” 

El giggled. “Will said you like dogs.”

“Well, he’d know.” He turned to look at her. In the shadow, their eyes met, and he just looked for a minute. “You’re…” he cleared his throat. 

“What?”

“Never mind.” He pulled his script from where he’d rolled it into his back pocket, opened it to a random page, and stared at it without blinking for a long time. 

Hopper picked her up in the police car after rehearsal. She tossed her book bag in first, then climbed into the front seat. 

“How was your day, sweetheart?”

“Good,” she said softly.

“Good.” Hopper sounded distant, and when she looked up, he was staring at Joyce. 

“Dad?”

“Hold on.” He climbed out of the car and walked to her as she locked the doors to the auditorium. 

From the window, El watched as Joyce and Hopper talked. Her dad smiled, eyes crinkling, and Joyce smiled back. Interesting. Joyce and Hopper had been friends for a long time. It was how she knew Will. 

As she looked, Mike pulled up by the window on his bike. “Hey, El.”

“Hi, Mike.”

“When is your free period? I mean, if you’re not busy, would you like to study our lines together? During then, I mean.” He cringed to himself.

“Yes, I’d like that.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

Hopper headed back to the car. 

“Bye, El,” Mike said, and hurried away.

“That the Wheeler kid?” Hopper asked, getting back in the car.

“Yes.”

“What’d he want?”

“To study lines.”

“Oh.” Hopper looked from her to Mike’s retreating back. “Hm.”

*

At the first Saturday dance rehearsal, Lucas was early. The auditorium was quiet. Nancy Wheeler was on stage, stretching. Jonathan sat beside her, holding a quiet conversation. 

Max sat in the front row, absently tapping a pencil on her script and staring into space. Lucas took the seat beside her. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” she smiled. “You’re early.”

He shrugged. “Ready to get started.”

“Mm.”

Lucas wracked his brain for something interesting to say. “Have you done theatre before?”

“No. I was big into surfing—before. I just moved here this summer, from California.”

“Oh, wow, really?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you like it?”

“Nothing compares to being able to walk to the beach.”

“That’s fair.”

“But it’s not so bad here. I’m making friends, y’know.” She elbowed him gently in the ribs. 

He laughed, probably too hard. Trying to recover, he said, “When did you learn to skateboard?”

She tapped her pencil against her lower lip. “I’ve known forever, I think.”

“That’s so impressive!” 

She looked pleased. 

And now he was officially out of things to say. So, he stole her pencil, and ran away.

“Give it back!” she shouted, running after him. “You never returned the first one you borrowed!”

He tucked the pencil into his pocket and stopped, holding up his hands in surrender.

“Where’d it go?”

He shrugged, the picture of innocence. 

She pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose. “I’ll get you for this.” She marched away. 

Lucas sighed. He didn’t know how to flirt. 

*

El’s life had become blur of school, rehearsal, homework, lines, sleep, repeat. They moved from blocking to working the scenes, and have dance rehearsals every Saturday. The set pieces started getting built, including the iconic raft that Mike and Lucas will ride for most of the show. They had a set painting day in early October. 

Joyce opened the doors to the auditorium wide. The cast was buzzing as Max and Jonathan hauled out rows of paint cans and piles of brushes. They milled around, different set pieces and props scattered across the stage. Will and Mike sponged the back wall of the stage green, to look like trees. The show opened in a month, and excitement was running high.

In the booth, Dustin flipped a few switches to make the lights brighter. Steve reached to touch something, but Dustin slapped his hand. 

“Here, watch this,” he lisped to El. He plugged in his iPod, and turned up the sound system all the way. Class 80s rock filled the auditorium.

“Aw yeah,” Steve said, rumpling Dustin’s curls, and, after a second thought, rumpling El’s too. He sprinted into the auditorium and vaults onto the stage. El and Dustin jogged after him, laughing. 

On the stage, Max handed El a paint roller. “Will you help Mike with the raft?”

El nodded, and joined Mike in kneeling to roll brown paint over the raft. They’ve gotten closer, timidly inching around their feelings. Or, at least El has. She has no idea what Mike feels.

“So, El, I know you like to read. Do you like movie adaptations?”

“Sometimes.”

Mike chewed his lower lip. “I haven’t read Ender’s Game, but I’ve heard it’s really good. Dustin likes it.”

She nodded enthusiastically. “It’s a really good book.”

“Would you want to watch the movie?”

Making a face, she shook her head. “The movie’s not good!”

“You’ve seen it? Oh. I see.” He ducked his head and painted another long stripe on the raft. 

“I haven’t seen a lot of musicals, though,” she offered. “I know, like, most theatre kids have, but Hopper doesn’t like them, and—”

“What have you seen?”

“Sound of Music? That’s about it.”

“No way. We _have_ to fix it!”

“Yes?”

“You haven’t even seen Les Mis!”

“No?” 

“Can you come over Friday?”

She nodded slowly. “I’ll have to check with my dad, but—”

“Perfect. We’ll make a party of it.”

El dipped her head to focus on the raft again. For a moment, she’d thought he was asking her out. Perhaps she was wrong about how he felt about her. 

“I’m going to murder you!” Max screeched. Half of her face was covered in green paint. Her ponytail had done little to rescue her hair from the carnage. It dripped down her chin and onto her shirt. 

Lucas sprinted away, grinning. “You’ll have to catch me first!”

Max wheeled and grabbed her skateboard, pushing across the stage in hot pursuit. She’d catch him soon.

Joyce sighed and let it happen. She seemed to have given up on controlling them. They were teenagers, after all. 

El wiped a hand over her face. The lights were hot and she was sweating. 

Mike hummed along to Dustin’s music. Together they covered the raft with brown paint. 

“How do you like high school? As opposed to homeschool.”

“It’s nice,” she said. “I like having—friends.”

“Friends are important,” he said sincerely, looking right into her eyes. A beat passed, then, “You have something—” Mike reached out his hand and rubbed his thumb on her cheek. “You had paint,” he said apologetically. 

“Thanks,” she half-whispered. 

He blinked at her. “Hey, do you—” he looked at the raft again. “Never mind.”

*

On Friday, the whole group of them piled into Mike’s living room to watch _Les Mis_. 

“Ordinarily I would grumble about your choice in movies, but this is a classic.” Dustin shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

“Don’t hog,” Max said, reaching over to the armchair to take the bowl from his lap. 

“Hush, it’s starting,” Mike said. 

Lucas hustled in, holding two cans of Coke. He pretended to hand one to Max, but let the cold condensation drip on her head. She squealed and snatched the can. Snickering, he sat beside her on the couch. 

Mike spread a blanket over his and El’s legs. “Comfy?” he whispered. She nodded, eyes glued to the screen.

The thing about watching a theatre classic with theatre nerds, is there is no peace. They have to sing along, comment on the actor’s range or performance, and get excited when the good parts come. Even Dustin got emotional over “One Day More.” 

El understood why they like it. It’s moving. She made a mental note to read the book, hoping it’s as exciting as the musical. 

When it’s over, they move on to Star Wars, because it satisfies all of them. It turns into a marathon (of course), and they all end up falling asleep on the Wheeler’s living room floor, blankets and pillows shared between them. 

When she woke in the morning, her head was on Mike’s shoulder. Around the room, she could see that Will was curled into a ball in an armchair—classic Will, to take up as little space as possible, even in sleep. Dustin covered half of the living room floor, and Max was on top of Lucas on the couch. Mike was breathing shallowly. 

She moved off him, feeling a flush rise to her cheeks. 

“Good morning,” he whispered.

“Hi,” she whispered back. 

“Do you like waffles?” he asked.

Still bleary from sleep, she squinted at him. “Yes.”

“Perfect. Want some from breakfast?”

“Of course.”

He led her to the kitchen, and shuffled through the cookbook. He pushed it to her. “Here.”

Together, quietly, they pulled out flour and eggs and vanilla, mixing carefully. Mike set up the waffle iron, and the sizzle when she poured the batter on it was so satisfying. 

Dustin stumbled into the kitchen. “Waffles? Fuck, yeah!” he rasped, and shuffled away. 

El shared a smile with Mike. She had a feeling her hair was a wreck, and she might still be sleep-rumpled, but in the sunny kitchen, pouring syrup over waffles, it didn’t matter.

*

Dustin spun his swivel chair in a full circle. “All this!” he shouted, “Is my kingdom!”

“Really?” Lucas leaned on the doorframe to the booth, arms crossed, unimpressed.

“All of it,” Dustin repeated, grabbing at one of the many fast-food cups strewn on the counter. He took a sip. It was empty.

Lucas chuckled and shook his head. “How hard can it be? Push a few buttons, flip a few switches…”

Dustin looked indignant. “It’s very hard! I’d like to see you try!”

Lucas held up his hands in surrender. “I’m just messing. It’s impressive.” He deepened his voice. “Most impressive.”

Dustin grinned, eyes disappearing. “Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself.”

They bumped knuckles. 

*

El stood on stage, folding the sleeves of her flannel over her hands. Mike paced in front of her delivering a monologue. This was the only time their characters were alone, and also the time for their kiss. 

As Mike paced, she thought he was a very good actor. When he got into character, it was like the rest of the world slipped away, and he was Huck, and no one else. If Joyce had any doubts about casting a freshman as the lead, they should be put to rest. 

Mike finished his monologue and returned to her. She delivered her next lines, and then panicked. The script called for them to kiss. They’d never talked about it.

“El, are you alright?” Joyce asked.

“Yes, it’s just—” she stopped, unsure what to do.

Joyce frowned, looking at her script. “I see. Well, we’ll just skip that part for today and come back to it later.”

“Okay.” 

As rehearsal ended, Hopper came into the auditorium, hovering near the back. 

“Hopper, come in!” Joyce said. 

“No, I couldn’t.”

“Oh, please.” She tugged at the corner of his sleeve, and he went willingly. She pulled him to a seat and struck up a conversation.

Will leaned his chin over El’s shoulder as she watched from the wings. “I think they’re in love.”

El nodded. “Me too.”

Will grinned mischievously, stepping away. “Should we do something about it?”

El shook her head. “I think they’ll figure it out.” She headed further into the wings, gathering her book bag and script.

Will looked disappointed, then brightened. “How about you and Mike?”

“What _about_ me and Mike?” She felt the tell-tale flush rising up her neck.

Will looked even more disappointed. “Everyone is so difficult!” 

Dustin hopped off the end of the ladder to the catwalk. “Who’s difficult?”

Will ticked it off on his fingers. “Mom likes Hopper. El likes Mike. Lucas likes Max. And nobody’s doing a thing about it!” He sighed. “I just want people to be happy.”

Dustin nodded thoughtfully. “What a shame.” 

“What’s a shame?” Mike asked, materializing from the thick black drapes.

El flinched, wondering how much he’d heard. 

Dustin put his hand on Mike’s shoulder and shook his head. “Mike, my friend, the biggest shame is you.”

Mike rolled his eyes. 

Will grabbed Dustin by the sleeve. “Hey, I have a very important question to ask you…somewhere else.” He tugged a bewildered Dustin away.

Mike shrugged. El shrugged back at him. 

“Hey, so, uh…I have a question.”

“Okay…”

“I know we have that kiss in the script, and I don’t want to do anything…uncomfortable…” he shuffled his feet. 

“Yes…?” she prompted.

“Would you maybe want to…practice kissing?” Mike flinched as the words left his mouth. “But! Not like that! Like…I could get you dinner or something. First. And then we could try. Kissing. That is.” He looked unhappy with the words coming out of his mouth.

El’s stomach did a flip worthy of an Olympic gymnast. “…I guess so? For kissing practice. I don’t think we need dinner?” She didn’t know what else to say. Why would they need dinner for kissing practice?

Mike looked even more unhappy, if that was possible. “I…don’t want to do it if you don’t want to do it.”

El cocked her head at him. She was missing something, she just wasn’t sure what. “Maybe we should wait and see what Joyce says.”

Mike looked at their shoes. “Yeah. Okay.”

She wanted to reach for him, hug him, something. She wanted to kiss him, but that wouldn’t be right. “I’m…going to go.”

“Okay,” Mike sighed. 

El walked out of the wings to her dad. “Let’s go,” she said softly. 

He took one look at her face and bid Joyce goodbye. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, as soon as they were out of earshot.

She shook her head. She didn’t know why this upset her so much. 

Hopper dropped the subject.

It wasn’t until much later at night that she realized Mike had been asking her on a date. 

*

With only a week to show, tech week began. 

Max spent every day in the theatre, testing lights and sound with Dustin. The day before actual tech rehearsal—a cue to cue run that will likely last all day—she had a dry tech. It meant carefully walking through the entire show with every light and sound transition tested. 

Lucas waited at the back of the theatre as Max crossed the stage yet again. She wore a large headset, an earpiece covering one ear, and a microphone in front of her mouth. She spoke into it sometimes, presumably communicating with Dustin and his crew in the booth. 

The white lights on stage gave her a silhouette, every single hair and graceful line of her body backlit. She looked angelic.

He turned the coffee cup in his hand. He wasn’t sure of her coffee order, just knew that she liked it. Taking a deep breath, he marched down the aisle. 

Max was in the wings, frowning at a page of the script.

“Max?”

“Yeah? Oh, hi, Lucas.” She graced him with a smile.

“I brought you something.” He held out the coffee. “I didn’t know your order, but I tried.”

She took the cup in two hands, looking at it in relief. “You’re a blessing.” She took a swallow and made a face, smacking her lips. “Kinda sweet, isn’t it.” 

Lucas cringed. “I’m sorry! I can get you something else!”

“No, really, it’s so kind of you to think of me.” 

“I also have these,” he pulled a packet of M&M’s out of his back pocket. 

She smiled, eyes wide. “For me?”

“For you.”

She took the packet and held it to her heart. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome.” He knew it was probably time for him to go, but he lingered. “Max, I—”

She met his eyes full-on. “If you’re going to tell me you have a crush on me, I know.”

He bit his lip. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? Why are you sorry?” Her eyebrows did confusion contortions.

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

She laughed. “I would think the paint and the pencils and all the other mess would speak otherwise.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” 

“You’re a very nice, boy, Lucas.”

His heart sank. He knew the beginning of an “I don’t like you back” speech when he heard it. “That’s okay,” he said.

“What?” 

“I know you don’t like me back.”

“How do you know? You’ve never let me say.”

He stared at her. She offered him a small smile. Then her face changed, going startled and focused. She pushed a button on her headset. “Yes, of course. The Nunsuch scene?” She hurried past him onto the stage. 

Lucas heaved a sigh. Eventually he’d get this right, but apparently, not today.

*

El held the program in her hands. It wasn’t anything fancy—just paper folded and stapled. But still, to see her name, _Eleanor Jane Hopper_ , there next to her little headshot, was almost too much. 

Max joined her, holding a program of her own. “This is amazing.” She waved it around a little bit. “I’m keeping this forever.”

“Me too.” 

They shared a smile. 

“We should hang out sometime—like, you and me,” Max said. “I hear you like to read.”

“I do.”

“Me too. Let’s trade books or something, okay?”

“Okay.” 

_Friends_.

*

The dressing room was just as exciting as El had predicted. The mirror lights flooded the room. People hurried to and fro, in various states of costume or makeup. Mike hurried past in overalls, no shoes, and a floppy hat. In the seat next to her, Will finished his stage makeup and hurried to get his costume on. Lucas pressed a beard to his chin, waiting for the spirit gum to dry. 

Nancy pinned the last bit of hair up, and patted El’s shoulder. “There you go. Good to get mic’ed up.”

“Thanks, Nancy.”

The older girl gave her a smile. She’d taught her how to do her stage makeup, and also she did her hair. 

El pulled her dress on carefully, so to not disturb her carefully pinned hair—though with the amount of spray in it, it would be hard to disturb.

They had settled on a deep blue and black plaid dress, with a small black jacket. Karen decided not to give her a hoop skirt, even though that would be appropriate. It was easier to keep the skirts loose. 

Her hands shook as she buttoned the jacket. It was just a dress rehearsal. Why was she so nervous?

Once dressed, she went back to the general chaos of the dressing room, watching her friends and cast mates mill around. 

Max stood in the doorway, cupping her hands around her mouth to shout, “Fifteen to curtain!”

“Thank you, fifteen!” the company responded. 

Joyce hustled into the dressing room. “El? Where’s Mike?”

“Here!” Mike bounded over. 

“I just wanted to let you know not to worry about the kiss. I know we haven’t really talked about it. El, if you want to kiss him on the cheek, that’s fine, but I’ll leave it up to you.”

El nodded dutifully. Mike nodded once, and walked back to the boy’s side of the dressing room. When she turned back, Joyce was gone, and Will stood in her place. 

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.” 

Will opened his arms to her. “For luck,” he said.

She went willingly, and they hung on tightly. 

“It’ll be opening before we know it,” Will said.

“Don’t remind me,” she groaned.

“We’ll be fine,” he said, looking not at all as if he believed it.

“We will.” She fixed him with a hard stare. The shows felt like a big looming doom to her, and yet, somehow, she knew they’d be fine. 

*

On opening night, Lucas snuck backstage while Max was otherwise occupied, and left a bundle of pencils on top of her script. It was every pencil he’d stolen/borrowed from her over the rehearsals, plus a few new ones he’d bought. 

He hadn’t had a good chance to talk to her since he’d failed to romantically confess his crush to her. He just wanted to know how she felt. That was all. At the very least, that they’d be friends outside of theatre. 

“What are you doing?”

Lucas jumped and snatched the pencils from the script and hid them behind his back. “Nothing!”

“Mm-hm. What are you hiding?”

Sheepishly, he held out the pencils, tied with a ribbon. 

“My pencils!” she said. “Oh—there’s more.” She looked at him under her lashes. “Did you get these for me?”

“Yeah—they’re—well.”

Max turned over the pencils to see her name engraved on them. Max “Zoomer” Mayfeild. “For me?”

“So that—so that if I borrow them, I’ll know who to give them back to. If y’know. I borrowed them.”

She looked at him, face open in a way he hadn’t seen before. “You know I like you, right?”

“What?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Oh.” He must be dreaming. He pinched himself behind his back. Nope, definitely awake. 

“Are you going to do anything about it?” she asked.

Breathless, he said, “Can I—can we go—would you like to—”

“Yes.” She nodded firmly. “I will go out with you. Yes.”

He nodded quickly, little short movements, his mouth hanging open. “Okay. Okay. Yeah.”

She smiled, pushing him gently to the dressing room. “Go get dressed.”

Lucas made it to the dressing room, a big smile splitting his face. 

In the corner of the dressing room, Will mumbled to himself, “Thank God.”

*

Show one was a success. El scrubbed at her face, tan makeup caking on the washrag. 

Mike, already out of costume, leaned on the counter by the sink she was using. “So, a bunch of us are going to Denny’s, do you want to come?”

“Denny’s?”

“It’s tradition. Trust me on this. Do you want to come?”

“Okay.”

Mike grinned. He pushed his curls out of his eyes and studied her as she moved the rag over her face again. “You did really good tonight.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re coming, right, El?” Will joined them at the sink.

“You did really good, too,” Mike said, and opening his arms to hug Will.

Dustin burst into the dressing room. “Great show, guys!” He grinned brightly, revealing the gaps in his teeth. 

Max snorted. “That’s not what you were saying during ‘Waiting for the light.’”

Dustin frowned at her. “What was I saying?”

“Hm, let’s see.” Max furrowed her brows in mock concentration, and in an imitation of Dustin’s lisp, said, “Shit, shit, shit, fuck, shit, damn, shit, fuck!”

Dustin grinned, “Oh yeah, that part’s stressful.” 

Steve bounced over, ruffling Dustin’s hair. “I’m so proud of you guys!” 

“Steve, can you drive us?” Dustin asked.

“To Denny’s?”

Steve rolled his eyes in a put-upon manner. “If you promise not to mess it up too much.”

“Steve, you drive a mom car,” Dustin said, unimpressed.

Steve sighed. “I do. Am I invited to this after party, though?”

“Of course!”

So they all piled into Steve’s Buick and headed to Denny’s where the staff take in their appearance and usher them to a corner booth.

Denny’s is one of the few places in town that will be open for as long as they are there, and no one cares if they’re too rowdy. They crowd into a single booth, Dustin almost in Steve’s lap, Max leaning on Lucas, and El squished between Mike and Will. 

They recap the show, talking over the good bits and the parts where things almost fell apart. Max looks particularly haggard at the recounting of an episode where the raft almost didn’t make it onstage, and Dustin tried to brush off the fact that he nearly started playing the wrong music for one of the songs. 

It’s quite a beautiful moment in time. 

Steve drove them home, dropping them off one by one. When he dropped off Will, El saw Hopper through the window. She shared a glance with Will and said, “I’ll stay here. Thank you, Steve.”

He gave her a soft smile. “No problem, El.”

Mike rolled down her window. “Hey, El?”

“Yes?”

He paused, then said, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Mike.” 

The window rolled up, and Steve drove away.

Once inside, Will and El found Joyce and Hopper on the couch. 

“Hello,” Joyce says. “It was a wonderful show.”

“It really was,” Hopper agrees. 

“Hopper just came by for coffee,” Joyce explained, nodding to him.

He shared her nod. “I really enjoyed the show.” 

“Good,” Will said. “Tomorrow should be just as good.”

“Hard to believe it’s almost over,” Joyce agreed.

“So much work,” El said. 

“It was worth it,” Hopper said, standing. “Let’s go home. Joyce, thank you for the coffee.”

She smiled at him. “Anytime.”

*

Show two went just as well as the first. No one forgot any lines. No props went missing. No cues were missed. In theatre terms, it’s a miracle. 

They took their final bow to thunderous applause. Hopper came again, and he sat in the middle, where the best seats are. They bowed a final time, and then raised a hand to Dustin in the booth, and then to Max backstage. The curtain swept closed as the lights dim.

And then it’s over. 

Immediately after the show closes, it’s time to strike. The set has to be taken apart, the floor has to be cleaned and repainted, all the props have to be put away—it’s a lot. 

El ended up carefully disassembling the raft. Hopper made sure she knew how to properly use a drill, so she’s having no problems unscrewing things. 

Pretty soon Mike wandered up and patted the raft. “Good raft. It’s been my friend.” 

El patted it in imitation. “It’s a nice raft. Say your goodbyes.”

“Goodbye, raft. Fare thee well. Now on to better skies and rivers.” He mimed wiping away a tear.

El giggled.

He smiled down at her. He stayed a moment, like that, looking down at her, then dropped to the floor beside her. “El—I—I tried before, but I really wanted to ask—would you like to go on a date with me?” The words tumbled out all in a rush. 

She blinked at him. “Kissing practice,” she said slowly. 

“Yes. That was—that was what that was.”

She nodded. “Yes. I’d like to go on a date with you.” 

He broke into a massive grin. “Really?”

She nodded. “Really.” 

They sat for a moment, just looking at the other. 

Dustin forced himself between them. “I have a drill and I’m here to help!”

Over his head, El and Mike shared a smile, then all three return to work.

*

As the last of the scraps were tossed in the trash, Max stood near the edge of the stage, turning through her script on last time. She unclipped the binder and took out all the papers. The binder she’ll keep. The script has to go.

Lucas laid down on the stage, his face near hers. “Hey.” 

She looked up, a little startled to see him so close. “Hi.”

“It’s been really great doing this show with you.”

“You too,” she said softly, almost affectionately. 

“You’re amazing. I don’t know where we’d all be without you. Where I’d be without you,” he added. 

The compliment made her smile. “Thank you, Lucas. Really.”

With a final smile, he leaned forward and kissed her lightly. It’s short, quick, just a press of his lips to hers. And then he was up and gone, scampering away and shouting to Dustin to toss him a broom. 

*

A week after the show ends, Mike shows up at El’s house to take her out for dinner. And then, after dinner, they finally get their kissing practice.

**Author's Note:**

> Big River is a real musical, one of my favorites, though I haven't seen it in years. It was part of the writing soundtrack for this, along with Newsies and The Greatest Showman, for some reason. Also go listen to "The Boys" from that show and tell me it isn't the most Party thing ever.
> 
> As an actor and stage manager myself, I hope I accurately represented every part of a stage show, if even briefly. 
> 
> This was a fun ride!
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr](http://www.stillusesapencil.tumblr.com)


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